Several years
ago, I started the first book in this series, THE CHASE, written by Clive
Cussler, didn’t care for it, and didn’t finish it. However, several of my
friends have recommended the later books co-authored by Justin Scott, so I
decided to give one of them a try. THE WRECKER is the second book in the series
and I liked it considerably more than the first one.
As in the first book, the protagonist is Isaac Bell, a detective who works for the Van Dorn Agency (clearly inspired by the Pinkertons). Bell is a pretty good protagonist, smart, dogged, tough but not a superman, and since he’s the son of one of the country’s leading bankers who didn’t want to follow in his father’s financial footsteps, he knows his way around the upper echelons of the business, society, and political worlds. In this book, he’s on the trail of a mysterious mastermind known as the Wrecker, who’s trying to take over the country’s railroads in a campaign of sabotage and terror. This book is set in 1907, and the threat to the nation faced by Bell and his cohorts from the Van Dorn Agency is very similar to the menaces tackled by Jimmy Christopher and Richard Wentworth thirty years later.
That’s not the only pulpish influence in this book. Justin Scott (who I suspect did the bulk of the writing and plotting, if not all of it) is the son of A. Leslie Scott, the great Western pulpster who created a couple of iconic Texas Ranger characters in Jim Hatfield (TEXAS RANGERS) and Walt Slade (THRILLING WESTERN, plus more than a hundred paperback original novels). One of Bell’s fellow agents is a former Ranger known as Texas Walt Hatfield, and every time he made an appearance in this book, I couldn’t help but get a big grin on my face at Scott’s tribute to his dad’s work. There’s one chapter where Walt Hatfield takes on a couple of saboteurs on his own, and it’s a great homage to a couple of characters whose adventures have entertained me for more than five decades now. (I read my first Walt Slade novel in 1965 or ’66, my first Jim Hatfield in 1967.)
There are a few things in this book I can quibble about. Like most thrillers written these days, it’s too blasted long, and because of that the pace lags at times. And for a crack detective, Bell seems awfully dumb in places, especially when it comes to figuring out the Wrecker’s true identity. Scott doesn’t keep that a secret from the reader for very long, but Bell takes forever to figure it out despite being practically hit over the head with clues. However, I’m willing to forgive that because of the great action scenes—and there are a lot of ’em—and the sheer sense of fun that runs throughout this novel. I’ll definitely read more of Justin Scott’s entries in this series. I enjoyed this one enough that I’ll probably pick up some of his solo novels, as well.
As in the first book, the protagonist is Isaac Bell, a detective who works for the Van Dorn Agency (clearly inspired by the Pinkertons). Bell is a pretty good protagonist, smart, dogged, tough but not a superman, and since he’s the son of one of the country’s leading bankers who didn’t want to follow in his father’s financial footsteps, he knows his way around the upper echelons of the business, society, and political worlds. In this book, he’s on the trail of a mysterious mastermind known as the Wrecker, who’s trying to take over the country’s railroads in a campaign of sabotage and terror. This book is set in 1907, and the threat to the nation faced by Bell and his cohorts from the Van Dorn Agency is very similar to the menaces tackled by Jimmy Christopher and Richard Wentworth thirty years later.
That’s not the only pulpish influence in this book. Justin Scott (who I suspect did the bulk of the writing and plotting, if not all of it) is the son of A. Leslie Scott, the great Western pulpster who created a couple of iconic Texas Ranger characters in Jim Hatfield (TEXAS RANGERS) and Walt Slade (THRILLING WESTERN, plus more than a hundred paperback original novels). One of Bell’s fellow agents is a former Ranger known as Texas Walt Hatfield, and every time he made an appearance in this book, I couldn’t help but get a big grin on my face at Scott’s tribute to his dad’s work. There’s one chapter where Walt Hatfield takes on a couple of saboteurs on his own, and it’s a great homage to a couple of characters whose adventures have entertained me for more than five decades now. (I read my first Walt Slade novel in 1965 or ’66, my first Jim Hatfield in 1967.)
There are a few things in this book I can quibble about. Like most thrillers written these days, it’s too blasted long, and because of that the pace lags at times. And for a crack detective, Bell seems awfully dumb in places, especially when it comes to figuring out the Wrecker’s true identity. Scott doesn’t keep that a secret from the reader for very long, but Bell takes forever to figure it out despite being practically hit over the head with clues. However, I’m willing to forgive that because of the great action scenes—and there are a lot of ’em—and the sheer sense of fun that runs throughout this novel. I’ll definitely read more of Justin Scott’s entries in this series. I enjoyed this one enough that I’ll probably pick up some of his solo novels, as well.
5 comments:
I really enjoyed this one, James, and appreciate the depth of your pulp knowledge. Love waking to it every morning. A great start to my own pulp-writing day.
Love this series and this book in particular. Didn't know about Leslie Scott and Texas Walt Hatfield until years later (I believe you were the one to tell me), but enjoyed the character's appearance ever since.
There's a passage in this story maybe around chapter 34-35 when the Wrecker sets into motion his sabotage plan. The next 2 chapters were all from the point of view of the people that would be hurt and or killed if the Wrecker's plans went through. The tension in these 3 or 4 chapters was very good.
I have to say: the last two Bell books are co-written by other authors responsible for other Cussler characters. Bell is like a flashback character in one (The Gray Ghost) and the main character in the current one, The Titanic Secret. It's interesting to see him handled by other folks, but Justin Scott is the guy who needs to keep writing these stories.
I haven’t read The Wrecker, but your description reminds me a bit of the Faraday series back in the 80s by William Grant (pseudonym). It had Pinkerton-like detectives, and my contribution (#2: Collision Course) centered on a train wreck caused by someone forcing a train onto the wrong track, leading to a head-on wreck. I edited the series and wasn’t planning to write any, but after delivering #1, we discovered the publisher thought they were coming out every 2 months, not 4 as contracted, and needed #2 in a few weeks. The author was busy on another project, so I locked myself in a friend’s vacant apartment in NYC and wrote #2 in just over a week. Weren’t you that other author? Did you do 1 and 3 and maybe all the others? I forget how many there were (this aging thing is a bummer). I guess I’m “aging in place” during this coronavirus train wreck.
Scott,
Looks like Jack Du Brul will be the writer on the series going forward. At least, he did the next one that hasn't come out yet. I don't know what happened with Justin Scott, but it seems like these Cussler series change writers fairly often.
Paul,
I wrote Faraday #1, but that's the only one in the series I did. I believe Dick Vaughan did #3. He wrote three books total in the series, more than anybody else. Bill Crider wrote a couple, but only one was published. His second book was next in line when Lynx folded. I've heard rumors that Chet Cunningham wrote one that also went unpublished, but I don't know if that's true. If it is, that would be the only book Chet ever did for BCI, as far as I know.
Jack DuBrul is a frequent co-author of Cussler's. but I'm not sure how he'll handle Bell.
The first couple of Bell's were the Cussler formula backward, where the characters would unearth something and then tell of how it came to be there. This was jettisoned after the first couple of books.
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